The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1887-09-22
THE NATIONS CAPITAL.
A CARPET BA(:GER COMES 70
f-.. GRIEF.
Ten COx.-Death of JefcrSOn'S Grand
Gaushter.--Cieveland will PrOba biy
Pass Through North Carolina. .xc.

aShI>"ioN- ~ ", sept. ~. SSI.-A1
eX-fellow citizen has recently come TO yrie
in this city. The people of Raleigh will
remember General Allen Rutherford
who first appeared in the ROLE of ''carpet
Dagger at Wilmington, n. c., as a mem
| Der or the Freedman'S Bureau SubSe
quently, he was elected by negro votes a
member OF the Constitutional Convention
OF North Carolina. After the dissolution
of this body, he was, by the same means,
elected to the State legislature He is said
to have been connected with the great Lit
tleheld-Swepson steal, though hurried
examination of the Fraud Commission
| rails to discover his name. When the
Democratic party secured the asccndency
IN North Carolina General Abbott, ,anoth-
er politician of Rutherford's ilk. came on
to this city with that gentleman and help
ed MIN secure from President Grant the
position of Third Auditor of the Treasury
as a reward for his services, above out
lined, in our State. He filled this position
until his resignation was demanded by
Seer etary Bristow. The Secretary was
forced to this course because Third Audi
tor Rnthe. ford, Second Comptroller Brod-
head, Deputy Second Comptroller Curtis
and clerk named Wilson signed two
fraudulent Tennessee claims known as the
Sugg Fort and Julius Witkowskv claim.
These claims had been already paid By the
I. S. Treasury and little investigation
would have made this plain to these Ollie
lals. The sum thus paid out a second
time amounted to $40, 600 The claims
were admitted on the mere representations
ct a Tennessee Congressman. After his
removal from the Treasury Department
General" Rutherford hung out his shingle
IN this city as pension attorney. North
Carolina was not 50 promising IL field for
the typical carpet -bagger. The negroes
had learned the failacy of the tfOrty acres
and a mule" promises. Tile managers of
the Freedman's Bank had gobbled up their
savings and disappeared The white peo-
pie had reinstated white Democrats in the
places OF trust and honor. and the report
of the fraud Commission" had exposed
the crooked dealings of the kenuilican
ring to every honest citizen. So General
Rutherford continued the practice of his
new profession" here undisturbed until
re" weeks ago be was arrested by the
police at the instance of the Interior De-
partment on the charge OF being PARTICLES
CRIMINIS in the theft OF important pension
records stolen from he Pension office by
clerk employed in said office. Lawyer
Rutherford waived examination before the
Follce Court and was required to give bail
in the sum of So, 600 to appear before the
uCAC SCoSlOu vi llC NTlIniIldI SGDt(rI 'DI the
District Of Columbia, In the mean time,
Secretary Lamar, having heard of Auditor
EutherfOrd's performances while in the
Treasury Department sent to that Depart
ment to secure the papers giving his official
record, and also the report of the Investi-
eating Committee which had been ordered
to 60 to Tennessee and examine the Sugg
Fort and Witkowsky claims. found out,
from the redoubtable Eugene Higgins, at
ter dlligent search of three days that the
report of this Investigating Committee
could not be found for Mr. Lamar, for me
or for anybody else. Mr. Higgins and
othel prominent officials think that the
most important papers bearing on the case
have been surreptitiously taken from the
files of the office AS this is in keeping
with General Allen Rutherford's record as
carp bagger while in our 5 ate, il is
easy enough for US to understand the mat
ter. Secretary Lamar will prosecute him
in regard to the stolen pension records and
the case Is now being worked up By Assist
ent District Attorney Worthington one Of
the Shrewdest lawyers in this city | am
able to go further back in the history of
Auditor aud lawyer Rutherford. He is a
native of the State of New York. He was
Major of the 83rd New York Regiment of
volunteers AND RESIGNED HIS COMMAND IN
1862. So it seems he did not hurt himself
fighting, in spite of his highsounding title
of General" Major, Auditor, and Law
yer Rutherford will receive his verdict at
the next session of the Criminal Court of
the District of Columbia, so until that
time, l forbear
Gen. W. r. Cox is more frequently
mentioned than any other person as the
successor of the First Assistant Secretary
of State Porter. One thing causes me to
doubt whether he would accept the posi-
ton. Mr.. Bayard | understand wants a
figure head. General Cox will not become
this for anyone. He has his own opinions
and he has the courage to enforce them
and he is not going to merge his personal
ity into that of anybody. He is the best
man know to assume the full duties Of
Assistant Secretary of State. He is able
diplomatic, and his experience as mem
Der of the Foreign Affairs Committee
admirably fits him for the position. l am
sure he will not accept it however until
after he has had a full and explicit under.
standing with Mr.. Bayard.
Yesterday somewhat notable woman
died in this city She was Mrs Septima
Randolph Merkleham and for years
fruitless effort has been made to make
Congress pension her. She was the last
surviving grandchild of Thomas jefferson,
upon whose knee SnG mao often sat at
Monticello when she was lite girl Her
mother was Martha jefferson, who mar
ried at seventeen, and her father was
Thomas Mann Randolph, once Governor
of Virginia. The Randolph estate was at
Edge Hill, just across from Monticello, and
there she lived long after the Monticello
estate of her grandmother passed into the
hands of the strangers who made a charge,
varying from a quarter to dollar, to
allow visitors, including the grandchildren
of jefferson, to see JeffersOns grave.
Mrs. Meikleham was the seventh of twelve
children, from which circumstance she
derived her given name, Septima. While
travelling in Cuba for her health she met
DR.. Meikleham, Scotch physician, and
married him. He died some years ago.
Since then the main support of the family
is said to have been the elder of two
daughters who had for long time held
clerkship in the Patent Office. She was
discharged, (by mistake as it aftera ards
appeared) last winter and Immediately re-
instated, after it had been duly made
known that she was the great -granddaugh
ter of Thomas Jefferson. OF two sons and
two daughters surviving, the daughter
who is employed in the Patent Office is
the only one who is not an invalid. One
son will accompany the remains to New
York to-day, and the other, Randolph,
will remain in Washington to look after
his two sisters. who are both inyalids now
A syndicate of capitalists in this city
have purchased the Wadesboro brown stone
Tho oonito1 sto.l, oil of x.-b;oh